Syria war: OPCW says chlorine used in February attack

The global chemical weapons watchdog has said chlorine is likely to have been used in an attack on a rebel-held town in northern Syria in February.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found chlorine had been “released from cylinders by mechanical impact” in Saraqeb.

It did not assign blame for the incident, in line with its mandate.

Medics and activists said at the time that chlorine-filled bombs had been dropped by a government helicopter.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied ever using chemical weapons.

However, a joint UN-OPCW mission that has now ended said it was confident that government forces had used the nerve agent Sarin and chlorine in four attacks.

The OPCW is also currently investigating a suspected chemical attack last month in the then rebel-held town of Douma, in which medics say 40 people were killed.

The US, UK and France said they were confident that chemical weapons had been used in Douma by government forces and in response carried out missile strikes on Syria’s “chemical weapons infrastructure”.

In a separate development on Wednesday, the government was reported to have regained control of the centre of the country after the last buses evacuating rebels and their families left a besieged region straddling Homs and Hama provinces.